A Lamb's Eyes

In the dream
Over to my left
All in a fold
There were these sheep
Huddled silently on the grass
In the steady March rain
The way I’d seen cows group
For so many years
In frosty pastures

I was walking on the lane
Past those sheep
They were so near the fence
Against it, practically
Usually they weren’t, I knew.

Then two sheep eyes met mine
A lamb’s eyes
And they bore right through me
As if giving me some kind of message
I felt strange, as if I were
In their grasp almost
Then I realized I’d
Stopped walking
And it became clear: the message
Those little eyes meeting mine conveyed.

“Oh yes, I’m coming back.
Don’t you take it lightly,”

They said.
Then I resumed walking
Down the lane
But all day I saw those grasping
Little eyes of that lamb.